This text provides a list of the names of the people in the American TV show that mixes science fiction and crime drama called Person of Interest.

Main characters

• Portrayed by Jim Caviezel
• Episodes: "Pilot" – "return 0"

John Reese is the name used by a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and CIA officer who helps Harold Finch stop crimes before they happen. Reese was thought to be dead after a failed CIA mission in China. His real name is not known. Police call him "The Man in the Suit" because they only know him from witness descriptions.

• Portrayed by Michael Emerson
• Episodes: "Pilot" – "return 0"

Harold Finch is a billionaire software engineer who lives alone and created a machine that predicts future crimes. The machine gives the Social Security number of either a victim or a criminal. Finch uses many names with bird themes, like Harold Wren or Harold Swift. He is very careful about keeping his identity secret and has removed all digital traces of himself. Finch has a dog named Bear, who was rescued by Reese from a group called Aryan Nationalists. Bear is a trained Belgian Malinois.

• Portrayed by Sarah Shahi
• Episodes: "Relevance" – "return 0"

Sameen Shaw is a former U.S. Marine, doctor, and Army ISA operative. She first appears as an assassin working for "The Program," a government group that deals with numbers found by Finch’s machine. Shaw’s partner, Cole, becomes suspicious after learning their target is a government engineer. Shaw and Cole are targeted by their employers, who plan to kill them. Reese and Finch learn about Shaw and Cole’s numbers and help them. Cole is killed, but Shaw eventually joins Reese and Finch.

Shaw witnessed her father’s death in a car accident as a child but did not show typical emotions. She claims to have a mental condition called Axis II Personality Disorder and alexithymia, which makes it hard for her to feel or express emotions like fear or sadness. Shaw attended medical school and trained as a surgeon but was criticized for being emotionally distant. She later works with Reese and Finch to stop crimes.

Shaw once saves Fusco’s son instead of Fusco and takes in Genrika as a ward. She shows emotion by kissing Root before sacrificing herself to save the team. Later, Samaritan uses Shaw to trap Reese and Finch. Shaw is forced to go through many simulations but escapes, killing someone named Jeremy Lambert. After returning to New York, Shaw struggles to tell real life from simulations. She rejoins the team with Fusco, who now knows about the machine.

After Finch’s identity is exposed, Shaw helps protect him but is separated during a gunfight. She is later devastated by Root’s death. The machine gives Shaw Root’s identities, and she works with Reese and Fusco to stop a presidential assassination. Shaw helps Finch deploy the ICE-9 virus into Samaritan.

As the world breaks down from the virus, Shaw visits Root’s grave but cannot say goodbye. The machine, using Root’s voice, helps Shaw escape a Samaritan attack. During the final battle, Shaw helps Fusco defend the machine and captures Samaritan agent Jeffrey Blackwell. She learns Blackwell killed Root and shows anger but listens to the machine. Before leaving, the machine gives Shaw a final message from Root. Blackwell escapes after seriously hurting Fusco.

A week later, Shaw kills Blackwell in revenge. She meets Fusco at a café, unsure if Reese or Finch survived. Shaw takes Bear and walks down the street before being contacted by the machine, now using Root’s voice. It seems Shaw will continue working with the machine as its main helper.

• Portrayed by Amy Acker
• Episodes: "Bad Code", "Firewall" – "return 0"

Root, born Samantha "Sam" Groves, is a brilliant hacker and assassin who is obsessed with Finch and the machine. She is skilled with guns, can handle pain well, and is good at manipulating people. She has pretended to be a psychiatrist, a government assistant, and an FBI agent.

Sam grew up in Bishop, Texas, until her mother died. Her mother told her to "follow her talents," which Sam used to hurt others without guilt. She found computers easier to understand than people, whom she calls "bad code." She waited her whole life for someone who shared her love of technology.

In 1991, Sam and her friend Hanna Frey played games at a library. When Hanna left, Sam stayed and finished a game called The Oregon Trail. She saw Hanna get into a car with a man named Trent Russell. Sam told the librarian, Barbara, about this, but Barbara protected Trent and called Sam a liar. This made Sam lose trust in people. Two years later, Sam hacked a drug lord’s bank account, stole $100,000, and framed Trent for a robbery to get revenge for Hanna’s disappearance. Sam moved away and became a professional assassin under the name "Root."

She was hired to kill Congressman Michael Delancey using a patsy named Scott Powell. She succeeded but later planned to kill Powell.

Recurring characters

The following is a list of friends and relatives of Team Machine.

Jessica Arndt (played by Susan Misner) was John Reese's former girlfriend and Peter Arndt's wife.

Jessica dated John Reese for about six months before September 2001 ("Pilot"). At that time, she was living in Tacoma, Washington ("Many Happy Returns"). While on vacation in Mexico on September 11, 2001, Jessica jokingly asked Reese to quit the United States Army, not knowing he had already left. Soon after, she saw news reports about the attacks on the World Trade Center ("Pilot").

Years later, Jessica met Reese at an airport. He told her he had found a new job. She shared that she was engaged to a man named Peter and planned to move back East, but said she would wait for Reese if he asked her to. Reese did not respond and left ("Mission Creep"). Later, while working illegally in New York, Reese met Peter, who was now married to Jessica, at a bar. As Jessica arrived, Kara convinced Reese to leave before Peter could introduce her to him ("Blue Code").

Reese and Stanton were in Morocco questioning a suspect. While Stanton worked with the suspect, Reese received a voicemail from Jessica that sounded upset. He called her back and sensed something was wrong, though she did not explain. He told her he would visit her in New York the next day. However, Reese was denied leave because he and Stanton were assigned a special mission to China by Agent Snow.

Later that month, Peter attacked Jessica and accidentally killed her by hitting her head against their kitchen counter. He initially planned to call an ambulance but later decided to hide her death by making it look like a car accident.

After escaping a trap set by his CIA handlers in China, Reese returned to the United States and searched for Jessica. He visited the hospital where she had worked in New Rochelle to ask about her but learned she had died two months earlier. Without knowing it, he met Finch, who was in a wheelchair, at the hospital after receiving the news. The Machine had been sending Finch Jessica's phone number for years, but Finch could not understand why until he realized she was living with someone who posed a danger to her. Jessica's death deeply affected Reese, leading him to drink heavily and consider ending his life before meeting Finch ("Pilot").

Carter investigated Jessica's death after the FBI asked her to look into Jessica's husband, whom they believed was killed by Reese for owing money to a loan shark. Though the official report said Jessica died in a car accident, Carter discovered she was abused by her husband and was killed before the accident. She also learned about Jessica's past relationship with Reese and destroyed evidence to keep the FBI from finding out.

Grace R. Hendricks (played by Carrie Preston) was Finch's former fiancée who believed he was dead.

Grace was born on April 12, 1969, in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1987, she attended the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1991. She later earned a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University in 1994 ("The High Road"). During college, she spent a year in Venice, Italy ("Til Death").

While showing Nathan Ingram the progress of the Machine, Harold Finch was directed by the computer to Grace, who was painting in a park. Finch assumed the Machine's direction was a mistake ("The High Road"). After fixing what he thought was an error, Finch returned to the park and was directed to Grace again. He learned the Machine had chosen her because she was the only person in the park with no "dark secrets" and because she liked Charles Dickens ("The High Road").

In January, Grace was painting in the park when Harold approached her while she was eating an ice cream cone. He offered her one, and they began dating soon after. On her birthday in April, Finch surprised her with a scavenger hunt that led her to the Guggenheim Museum, where he gave her her favorite painting ("Til Death").

In 2010, Finch proposed to Grace. He later told Ingram about the proposal ("Zero Day"). After a bombing that killed Ingram and injured Finch, Grace visited the hospital looking for him. Finch realized that if the government learned he was alive, they would kill him and Grace. To protect her, Finch pretended to be dead and left the hospital ("God Mode").

Grace works as a cover illustrator for The Boroughs magazine. She keeps a photo of herself and Harold in her living room, unaware that he is watching her from a distance to protect her. It is suggested that Harold ensures she continues to have work through his business connections ("No Good Deed").

In 2013, Grace was chased by Decima Technologies to find Finch. She was captured and traded for him. During the trade, Grace stumbled and was caught by Finch, though she did not recognize him because she was blindfolded. Later, Finch arranged for her to move to Italy for a new life ("Beta").

In 2016, the Machine simulated a world where it never existed, showing that Finch would never have met Grace (".exe").

In 2016, after Samaritan was destroyed, Finch found Grace in Italy where she was painting in public. She was surprised to see him but seemed happy ("return 0").

Nathan C. Ingram (played by Brett Cullen) was Harold Finch's deceased collaborator and business partner who co-created the Machine. He died under circumstances revealed in "God Mode." Ingram founded IFT and acted as the government's contact during the Machine's development.

Ingram was born on June 16, 1962, in Freeport, Texas. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1980 but left with an incomplete Bachelor of Science degree in computer science in 1983 ("The High Road").

He founded his company in 1983 ("The High Road") with his best friend and MIT classmate Harold Finch, who worked under the name Harold Wren ("Ghosts").

On September 11, Ingram visited Finch while he was working on a new program to share the news of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As they watched the news, Ingram said the world had not changed as they had, and suggested they try to improve it ("One Percent").

At some point, Ingram contacted the U.S. Government to build the Machine. He acted as the public face of IFT, hiding the fact that Finch secretly built the Machine.

On June 10, 2002, after dismissing half his company's staff, Ingram discovered Finch's progress with the Machine. Using feeds from the NSA, the Machine could monitor all citizens of New York. Finch told Ingram the

General and cited references

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